Wharton and Ayari are injured apparently.

My rugby league team had to play a play off final in France. They’d played the same French team a few weeks before in the league and lost about 36-6. The final was on our opponents ground. These are working lads, one of them couldn’t get time off work to fly out on the Thursday with the team. He had to fly out on his own on the Friday. Our opponents hadn’t lost a game at home all season. Some of the lads were playing injured. At one point in the game we were 16-0 down. Did they give up ? Did they bollocks give up. They got stuck in, ran their blood to water and ended up winning the cup and promotion by a couple of points. When they presented the cup it still had our opponents ribbons on it because our opponents officials were that confident of winning they’d never bothered to buy ribbons in our colours ! It’s what’s beating under the badge that counts when the chips are down.

I don’t know why people are surprised by these results. It happens at the end of every season. Teams that appear to be “ dead and buried “ start fighting for their lives. Tomorrow we get a chance to do the same. Let’s see whether we can do the same.

The Rolling Stones - I Wanna Be Your Man

I got told a long while ago by the Chief Exec at my local Rugby League club - “ never make excuses for the players, as they’ll take them.”

Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band - Blinded By The Light

I hate these early kick offs. It just gives them the opportunity to ruin more of your weekend.

Sam Cooke - Bring It On Home To Me

I went to a sportsman’s dinner a while ago were Dean Saunders was the guest speaker. He told tales of Ron Atkinson doing similar things when he was at Villa.

It’s all a joke.

More injuries ? Suspensions ?

Who are the top players ? The best one just left the building recently. How many have we got ? I’d class top players as ones capable of getting us out of this league. I don’t see many of them, unless you count getting out through the back door.

We’re on too much of a knife edge to start bickering internally but when the season is over I’d like to hear some straight talking. Given we haven’t much of that in 14 years I’ll probably be disapointed.

Yeah, 14 years of shit is a long while. Some times you need a break from it. I took a break when they appointed Coyle. I could see where it was heading.

What are the bookies saying now ? Just asking for a friend.

It’s OK slagging the manager off but I doubt very much that he’s telling Hyam - “ The next time you’re chasing a long ball out of defence with a striker breathing down your neck don’t put it row Z, try and get the ball under control and beat the guy “ is he ? Ditto Brittain - “ Don’t volley the ball back up the pitch, miss your kick completely so their guy has a run in on goal “. Making the correct decisions, at speed, under pressure is what separates the good players from the also rans. It’s hard to coach. In rugby league, were you have more opportunity to sub players, anybody making mistakes like that would be subbed off right away. You don’t get the chance to make any more mistakes or play like you’ve just walked from Blackburn to Bristol like some of ours did last.

Sorry, I don’t know how that happened.

“ Nothing to play for “ can work two ways. It also means you start out under no pressure. It’s up to us to provide that pressure. We needed not to let them score. Get our noses in front, make them work, get the home crowd restless. We did none of those things. When you have your captain saying to the opposition striker “ I know you’re having a bad run son, see what you can do with this one “ , you’re making a rod for your own back. Once that one went in the pressure was off their backs and on ours.

Possibly. I know I was less than pleased by his apparent attitude, then to follow it up with the home shambles to the Nobbers !

The Miracles - You Really Got A Hold On Me

The absolute shambles at the dingledome lost him a lot of support. That and the way it was shrugged off as just another game. I know I never had the same confidence in him after that.

Gordon Lightfoot - Early Morning Rain

Letting Wharton go to the first bidder told us all we needed to know. That was the moment our fate was sealed for me. It’s not just about losing our most creative player, it was the message it sent to the rest of the players.

That was when we should have pulled away towards the play off zone and we did the opposite.